Secrets
by axels-saint
Summary: We all have our secrets, but most of them are little, like being afraid of the dark. When Roxas meets a mysterious redhead at school who teaches him this, he becomes curious about what people hide underneath the surface. Akuroku. First Fanfic.
1. My Name Is Roxas and I Like Kittens

A/N: Hello there! :) So I'm starting this off as a T rated fic, but it might get bumped up, I'm really not sure. This is the first fic that I'm actually publishing so please bear with me; reviews and criticism would help a lot and probably get things moving along a lot faster. In short: If something I wrote looks retarded or jacked up, go ahead and say "Excuse me author, but you wrote something retarded and jacked up, here's how to write it properly." I promise I won't bite if you're nice about it. Anyways, none of you want to read my rant, on with the story!

-:-:-:-

"My name is Roxas Strife." I started, "I'm sixteen..." I frowned, trying to think of more to say, "I...Like cats?"

Blue eyes rolled as my brother crossed his arms over his chest, looking frustrated, "Roxas! You don't have to give anybody a detailed report about yourself the first time you meet them! Just...Say...Hi, my name's Roxas, what's yours?"

That's right, my brother was teaching me how to introduce myself to a person. Our entire lives he'd always done it for me, we were in classes together starting in preschool. My friends were his friends. I hadn't ever needed to make any on my own, Sora was quite the socialite so it was easy enough to find people I liked somewhere along the line.

But that proved to be a problem over time.

You see, for our entire sixteen years we lived in Twilight Town, a sunny little place where you couldn't go anywhere without seeing somebody you knew. It wasn't until our freshman year of high school that the possibility of moving even entered our minds. Apparently, living in Twilight Town was expensive, and my mom just couldn't afford it on her own. So, as it turned out, she had to sell her flower shop-her pride and joy-and get a job in Hollow Bastion, where it was cheaper to live.

So there I was, starting at a new high school, with no idea how to make friends. And now I didn't have Sora to help. As my luck would have it, the only time we would see each other was lunch, and that didn't leave much time for me to squeeze myself into his circle of friends.

"Besides-" I looked up at the sound of Sora's voice, I'd all but completely forgotten he was there, "-As soon as you invite some people over, they'll see Duchess and the kittens in your room and they'll probably figure out that you like cats. It's pretty obvious, Rox. You have a kitten sticker on your binder."

I crossed my arms over my chest, "That's not fair, Olette gave me that. It'd be rude to just throw it somewhere and forget about it!" Okay, so that was only partly true. Olette did give me the sticker, multiple actually, but I didn't put it on my binder to be polite. I put it there because, yes, I loved kittens. And I still do. I mean come on, kittens? You can't not love kittens!

But I digress. You're probably more interested in my first day of school at Hollow Bastion High School, right?

Right.

But I wasn't, not when I found out about the move, not a month before, not the night before, and definitely not during the short walk there. I was dreading it with all my heart.

I never liked school, no matter where it was. It was boring, I just couldn't pay attention. I guess I didn't really like being crowded either, it was annoying to have to shove through hoards of people five days of the week.

Maybe I was just negative. Sora seemed to be happy enough, if his excited chattering was anything to base my theory on. I really wasn't paying attention, my focus was on the school laid out in front of us. Looking over at my brother, still going on about some boy he'd met while we were moving our boxes into the house, he didn't seem to even notice that we'd gotten to school.

"Earth to Sora?" I waited until I had his attention, "We're here." He stared at me for a long moment, his blue eyes uncomprehending. I pointed at the school, his head snapping around to see what I was talking about and his mouth popped open into a small O shape.

"Sorry, Roxas. I got kinda carried away." My brother rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, chocolate brown locks ruffled already by the wind. I felt myself frowning, we didn't have wind in Twilight Town.

I sighed, "It's fine. Just pay attention today, okay? Hollow Bastion schools are ahead of everybody else, you don't wanna fall behind because you're thinking about Ricky."

"Riku." Sora corrected, his hands on his hips, trying to look intimidating.

"Right. Riku, sorry." I pushed open the door to the office, the beginnings of a headache pounding in the back of my head, "It's going to be a long day."

-:-:-:-

A/N: Okay so that was kind of short, I promise I'm gonna try to make the other chapters longer!


	2. When Textbooks Attack

A/N: Hello once again! This chapter is longer, as promised and I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: Still not mine, despite my wishes.

-:-:-:-

I stared at the doorway to my english class from across the hall, fearful of the noises coming from somewhere deep in the room. I couldn't see what was going on, but then, I wasn't sure I wanted to. It sounded dangerous, and every now and again I saw a textbook being thrown across the room.

I sighed, knowing I would have to go in eventually. That, or skip class. My eyes widened slightly, that wasn't such a bad idea. Except, if I got caught, my mom would be told. And then I'd have to see her disappointed face...

No, skipping was not an option here. And so, resigning myself to my fate, I quickly made my way to the open doorway, hoping to be able to just slide into a seat and hide from the chaos.

As my luck would have it, however, I never even made it into the classroom when I was halted by a large civics textbook to the face. At that point only part of me noticed the shocked aqua-blue eyes staring back at me. The rest of my mind was focused on making sure I wasn't bleeding on myself and trying to find the source of hysterical laughter at the back of the room.

"Xigbar! Oh my God, you hit the new kid! Oh God, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Oh God, Xigbar, apologize! Oh God...Please don't hate us...I'm sorry, oh God..." I frowned at the quick moving blonde in front of me as he came speeding closer, reaching out to grab my shoulders. I was jarred slightly as he pulled me close and inspected my throbbing nose closely.

"Um...I'm fine, but...Erm...Could you let go of me?" Confusion clouded my captor's bright blue eyes and he blinked rapidly, tilting his head to the side.

"Demyx, you gotta let the kid breathe. Back up a little and release him from your death grip, dude." I twisted my neck around to find the source of the voice, grateful at first when the hands were removed from my shoulders, but when I recognized the voice as the one that had been laughing at my expense, I frowned at the teenager sitting at the back of the room.

In retrospect, I probably wasn't very threatening to him. I mean, he was a big guy, and he had an eyepatch! I was just some little blonde kid with a pouty face. I was just surprised he didn't laugh harder. I was a little thrown off by his greying hair, finding it difficult to figure out if he was a student or not, but judging by the way he and Demyx had interacted I could only assume he was just prematurely greying...Possibly caused by Demyx, if what I'd seen of the blonde so far was any indication of his usual behavior.

"Ow! God damnit! Larxene, what the Hell!" I spun around, my heart racing at the sudden outburst, spotting a shock of red hair and a body draped over the teacher's desk at the front of the room. Standing next to the desk and looking ultimately proud of herself was a tall blonde girl-wait, I'm sorry but were those antenna on her head? Yes, they were, get over it Roxas, or this will go on far longer than needed.

Demyx walked over and put a hand on the red head's back, patting him gently, "Sorry, me and Xig were afraid to wake you, so we just waited for Larxene...Please don't hurt me." The blonde jumped out of the way of a gloved fist with a girlish yelp. I couldn't bite back the laughter that came from witnessing the scene and in a flash the red head was standing in front of me, blinking wildly and looking confused.

"Who're you?" I stood stock still, staring into the pure green depths, mild amusement filling my head. He had cat eyes. It took all my self control to not reach out and run a hand through his fiery red hair, and just as I almost lifted my hand I remembered his question and snapped back to reality.

"I'm..." I hesitated, suddenly feeling a bit braver than I had earlier, and smiled, "I'm Roxas, I just transferred here from Twilight Town with my twin brother, Sora." I mentally patted myself on the back, promising to treat myself to some ice cream as a reward for not freaking out and hiding under a desk somewhere.

He smiled, eyes glinting, "The name's Axel, got it memorized?" I nodded slowly, amazed that I had heard him at all over my own thoughts. In fact I had forgotten where we were until Axel went tumbling over with Demyx firmly attached to his side, scrutinizing his face closely.

"Oh man Saix got you good, Xig, come check out this bruise!" Demyx held Axel down with one arm, waving over the boy in the back with the other, his eyes still on Axel's face. Xigbar obliged and jumped over the desk he was at, twisting around me to get closer to the redhead, who was squirming halfheartedly and mumbling obscenities at his friends.

Upon closer examination I realized that, yes, there was indeed a dark bruise on Axel's cheek, just underneath a small teardrop shaped tattoo. As I watched the spectacle quietly I couldn't help but wonder what had happened, shifting out of the way as more students came flowing in with the sound of the bell.

"Get off of me! Damnit you guys, it's fine! It's just a little bruise, and class started, seriously I need to know what the hell's going on in this class!" Axel used a little more force this time and finally pulled himself from their combined grips. Only to fall backwards on to the desk in front of me, staring up at me with those bright green eyes and smiling.

"Hey there, Foxy Roxy." I froze, and whatever it was he was going to say next was cut short as the teacher slammed the classroom door shut and told everybody to sit down. I half noticed Axel slide off the desk I was at and walk towards one in the front of the room as I took my seat numbly.

I didn't pay attention the entire class.

-:-:-:-

"Hey! Roxas, over here!" My head snapped around at the sound of Sora's voice and I waved to my brother, who was jumping up and down in the grass, waving his arms wildly in an overexcited attempt to catch my attention. As I made my way over to him I noticed the silver haired boy standing behind him, looking amused at his antics.

"Hey Sora. Who's this?" I nodded to the boy and managed a small smile, my previous bravery gone from my system at this point in the day. But could you blame me? It was hard to be afraid of somebody like Axel, he was kind of attention grabbing when you first meet him. I guess I just forgot that I was a nervous wreck.

But this guy? He was terrifying. He practically radiated tough rays. For a split second I wondered if I could get a sunburn from tough rays, but I was shaken out of that thought process when Sora started talking again.

"This is Riku, we have all our classes together! And he only lives a few blocks away from us, isn't that cool?" Sora dragged Riku forward, which would have been quite difficult if Riku hadn't been willing, "Oh, and then there's Kairi, and she's gonna meet us here in a few minutes with her cousin, Naminé! That reminds me, Roxas, did you meet anybody?"

"Um, yeah actually. There's this guy, Axel-"

"You already met Axel?" I jumped at the sudden voice and spun around, coming nose to nose with a perky looking auburn haired girl. I stared back at her with wide eyes and nodded once, slowly, afraid of what would happen if I moved too quickly.

"Sorry about her, Axel is a good friend of ours." I sighed in relief as the newcomer pulled the excited face away from mine. Looking up, I realized that the new blonde had been in my previous class and frowned, trying to remember her name when Sora jumped past me and in between the two girls.

"Roxas, this is Kairi-" He gestured to the tan girl with the wine colored hair, who waved excitedly, "-And her cousin Naminé." The tiny blonde girl waved, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Nice to meet you, Roxas." Our eyes met and I smiled, nodding my head.

Kairi waved a hand dismissively before I could reply, looking excited, bouncing on the tips of her toes. I stared at her blankly, trying to figure out what she wanted from me. The thought crossed my mind that maybe she was really a lion or some other predatory cat, and that I looked like some sort of low calorie snack. I opened my mouth to ask her what she wanted, but she beat me to it.

"So, what do you think?"

"Um...About what?" Kairi rolled her ocean blue eyes, looking annoyed with me already. She put a hand on her hip and poked me in the chest with the other, causing me to take a few steps back.

"About the school, of course. What else?" I nodded slowly, of course she meant the school, what else could she have possibly meant? Sora tilted his head, waiting for me to answer, his mouth tilted into a worried frown. I took a deep breath, I really had to get my head out of the clouds before he shook me like a rag doll.

"It seems cool enough, I guess. I mean, school is school, right? It's gonna be boring everywhere." Kairi lit up at this, sending me a thousand-watt smile and jumping forward, gripping shoulders roughly. I stared at her with eyes as big as the moon, my heart pounding a hundred miles and hour.

"You should play Tag!" The excited redhead glanced back at Naminé and Riku for assistance, "You too, Sora! Some new players wouldn't hurt, right? And then things wouldn't be so boring." My heart sank when Naminé and Riku nodded in agreement. Even Sora looked pleased with the idea. That scared me a little. Whatever this Tag thing was, I had a feeling I wasn't going to be able to get out of it now.

"What's Tag?" Sora piped in, looking up at Riku with a quirked brow. Riku smirked, rather deviously in my opinion, and crossed his arms over his chest, tapping his foot. Naminé laced her fingers together and hummed knowingly, biting her lip to keep from laughing and swaying happily from side to side. I felt Kairi's hand disappear from my shoulders as she pumped her fists in the air and twirled around, looking victorious.

"I'll go get Axel, he made it, so he's the best to explain it. Just wait here, 'kay?" I sighed and nodded warily, trying to soak up as much of the excitement in the air as I could as Kairi ran off, disappearing into the crowds.

-:-:-:-

"So these are our new players, huh?" Axel's eyes swept over Sora and I closely and he nodded approvingly, "Perfect. Now then. First thing's first." He sat down in the grass, pulling a folder from his canvas messenger bag, laying it out in front of him and flipping it open revealing a rather large stack of papers which he spread out with care. I stared at his gloved hands, the way they moved was so fluid and graceful, much unlike my clumsy hands.

"Okay. There are quite a few players so listen up carefully. There's me, Kairi, Riku, and Naminé. Everybody present at the moment. Then there's Demyx, Xigbar, and Larxene. You met them in English." Axel looked up at me expectantly, waiting for my signal to keep going. After a tentative nod from me, he continued.

"There are still some people you have met yet. Zexion, watch out for him because he's a fuckin' genius and he'll get you when you least expect it. Xion, she's a freshman with a couple of advanced classes, so you may only see her a couple of times a week. Lexeaus, you'll know him when you see him, huge guy, looks like he's gonna kill you, but he's actually a big softy. And Luxord, he takes bets on the game so be careful, 'cus he'll probably try to swing things in his favor." The redhead snapped his fingers, looking over at Sora and pointing at him.

Sora blinked once and pointed at himself, as though to make sure Axel didn't mix something up. Axel nodded and gestured for Sora to sit down, using his other hand to pull me down next to my brother.

"Now then. Here's where things get fun. I made Tag when I was a freshman and got bored one day in class. It's a game that starts on Friday and lasts through the weekend until Monday's last bell. It doesn't go on during class, so don't worry about getting in trouble or anything like that." Axel reached over and stole a cookie from Naminé, who either didn't notice or didn't care.

"So what is it, exactly?" Sora asked, leaning forward in anticipation, only to get his hood pulled over his head by Axel.

"Patience. I'm getting to that." Axel pouted, waiting for Sora to sit back and push back the fabric from his face before he continued, "Every Friday I slip a roll of colored duct tape into everybody's locker. Each person has a different color. I'm red, Kairi's pink, Riku's traditional silver because he sucks-" Axel received a slap to the back of the head for his comment. I couldn't stop the laughter that bubbled out of my throat when he and Riku became distracted from the rest of us in a small slap fight, both looking incredibly frustrated with the other.

In the end Axel shoved Riku away and cleared his throat, "Now then, where was I? Me, Kairi, Riku...Ah, Naminé, she's white. Demyx is blue, Xig's black, Larxene's yellow, Zexion is purple...Let's see...Xion has this freaky tie-dye stuff, Lexeaus is orange, and Luxord is green." Axel took a deep breath and leaned back a little, "On Friday you two'll have some in your lockers too. Don't worry, I'll surprise you with the colors."

"Okay, but...Why duct tape?" I asked slowly, afraid of the answer. Axel smirked, his green eyes glinting in anticipation.

"I'm glad you asked. Okay, so the purpose of the game is to get your tape on everybody's wrist, whoever gets to the most people gets free ice cream at Demyx's parents' parlor. Here." Axel held up two thick bracelets, both of them completely see through. All around us, our little group raised their wrists to show identical bracelets, Axel spoke up again, "You don't have to where them when there's no game going on, but it's kind of a symbol of our group and all so we just keep 'em on all the time."

Sora let out a squeak and took the bracelet gratefully, sliding it over his hand and on to his wrist, smiling up at the group and holding up his hand, "Looks like we've been adopted, Roxas."

I stared down at the plastic bracelet in my hands and then up at Axel, meeting his cat-like eyes and feeling a smile tug at the corners of my mouth as I slipped the bracelet on. My heart swelled at the feeling of acceptance, and for the first time I felt like I'd actually made some friends of my own.

"Yeah. It does, doesn't it?"

Lunch passed quickly, with lots of laughter, and I was almost sad when it was over. I split off from the group with Naminé, who apparently had art with me and promised to show me how to get there, seeing as the art department had it's own building away from the main school, and I didn't trust myself to find it without getting lost.

As Sora and I walked home in comfortable silence, I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. Maybe this was a good new start at life. Sure, we didn't live in a rich neighborhood, and I still didn't really know much about Hollow Bastion, let alone very many people. But somehow, I felt happy here.

"You know..." I started, staring down at the chunky bracelet on my wrist, "I really can't wait for Friday."

-:-:-:-

A/N: Tag is actually a game I've been planning for a while now. With good planning and everything it would be really fun I think. Could you imagine a bunch of teenagers frigging sniping each other with duct tape for free ice cream? That'd be awesome on so many levels. Although, I don't think some of those colors of duct tape actually exist (except tie dye, that crap is real, google it.) I think I heard once that you can get like...Custom duct tape or something though, so I dunno, if Sora and Roxas end up with some freaky duct tape, don't go all rage monster on me or anything.


	3. Smoking Is Bad For Your Health

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to my very first watcher, Usa-San! :D And now I'm gonna cling to her for dear life. :I I'm serious.

Disclaimer: I want it soooo baaaaad. Do you think I could marry Nomura?

-:-:-:-

"Roxas, sweety."

I pulled the sheets up over my head, turning away from the voice at the side of my bed in hopes that it would give up and leave. I felt the bed dip down behind me and a delicate pair of hands rested themselves on my shoulder, giving me a light shake.

"It's time for school, Roxas. You have to get up."

Again I ignored the voice, curling up deeper into myself and trying to get in at least ten more minutes of sweet, sweet dreams.

This of course was not meant to be, for in seconds I was rolled from the warm comfort of my bed and on to the floor, staring up into the teal depths of my mother's eyes as she poked her head over the edge of my bed with a smile.

"Oh, you're awake." I gaped up at the woman I'd come to know as Mom, trying to pull myself into the world of awareness. Blinking the blurriness from my eyes I managed to make out her calm features, noticing that her hair hadn't been tied back into its usual braid yet, her chocolate brown hair falling in waves around her face and shoulders. I sat up slowly and rubbed my eyes with the backs of my hands, mumbling incoherently when Sora walked in, his hair dripping wet and his shirt soaked through.

"Don't feel bad, Rox. She woke me by dumping ice water over my head. Speaking of which, mom, my bed is wet." Sora shook out his hair and stumbled over to my closet, crawling in and shifting lazily through my clothes. My mom sprang up to a standing position, bouncing unsteadily on my bed with her hands on her hips triumphantly.

"But you two morning devils are up, so that means that I've won anyway." She slid down off my bed and dusted herself off, "Now you two hurry up and get downstairs, breakfast is ready and you don't want Cloud and Leon eating it all, do you?" With that, the disrupter of my dreams was out the door and skipping down the stairs with all the energy of a girl half her age. Now that I think of it, that explained a lot about Sora, but not Cloud and I...Maybe the perky gene is recessive?

More importantly, getting breakfast before Cloud and Leon. If I wasn't quick, there would be nothing left but crumbs. Maybe.

I'm not really even sure about how we ended up taking those two in, either. You see, Cloud is my older brother, but he moved out while we were still in Twilight Town to join the police force in Hollow Bastion, where he'd be more useful. Somewhere along the line he met Leon-a social worker who had come to get some troubled kid from jail, and apparently they just...'Hit it off.' Or something. Anyway, when we moved out of Twilight Town, Cloud and Leon agreed to put forth their own money to buy a bigger house than was originally planned.

So somehow, in a strange turn of events, I ended up living with my older brother and his boyfriend in a four-bedroom house in the suburbs of Hollow Bastion, in a neighborhood called Radiant Garden. Thousands of miles away from the quiet little home of Twilight Town and thrust into the bustle of the city.

Of course, deep down I really did like Hollow Bastion. The few days I'd been there had rarely been boring, especially not school, which was surprising to say the least. Every morning I'd be greeted at the doors by Axel, who had taken to following me around until we had to separate for our first class, which apparently I had with Riku and Luxord. My second class was generally monopolized by Axel and Demyx, sometimes Xigbar or Larxene, if they were in the mood. The rest of the day was usually spent with other members of Axel's group, except for lunch, which Sora had claimed as his 'Roxas Time.' To which everybody happily obliged, even though over the course of the week Riku or Axel would pop in, "Just to say hi," and ended up eating lunch with us anyway. Or in Axel's case, stealing bits of mine and Sora's lunch and pretending he was completely innocent.

I smiled as I thought about my new friends, suddenly feeling more excited than I was previously to get to school, more so when I looked up at my calender and realized that it was Friday. Now, if you've ever gone to school you know that Fridays are always the best days of the week, with this mutual feeling of anxiousness and tense excitement in the air. But for Sora and I, it meant that our first game of Tag would begin the second we got into school.

-:-:-:-

"Roxy, you're late!" I felt the arms around my waist and suddenly the ground was gone from beneath my feet as I was swung around in front of the school doors. I laughed and shook my head in disbelief, wiggling my way free from the thin arms locked around my torso.

"I'm only a few minutes later than usual." I twisted around to see Axel standing with his arms open, looking like a puppy who'd just been punished for chewing up a pair of expensive shoes. I felt my heart break at the sight-big, tough Axel standing in front of me practically begging for my attention? It was the most adorable thing I'd ever seen. Somewhere in the back of my mind I heard Cloud telling me I was out-gaying myself, and I was torn between being proud and walking back home to punch him in the face. But that would mean leaving Axel behind and I don't think my feet would let me just yet.

Axel whined, making grabby hands at me and sticking out his lower lip, "But I was lonely without you! Everybody else is busy trying to figure out how they're gonna win and-" He paused, looking like he remembered something, "Oh yeah! I got the tape into your locker and Sora's, you'd better hurry up at your locker, because everyone is gonna be looking for you guys."

"What? But why? What'd we do?" I stared at him, feeling myself panic a little, but he just laughed. He waved his gloved hands calmly and pushed open the door to the school, waiting for me to go in before he started talking again.

"It's just 'cus you guys are new to the game and all, you know? Like...A hazing." Axel frowned, "Maybe that's not the best way to put it. The point is, watch your wrist, Roxy. I'll be rootin' for you." With that he waved, flashing that perfect smile of his and taking off down the hall towards his own locker. I felt my gaze following after him, and fortunately (or unfortunately, I suppose) when Sora came bounding down the hall with Riku not far behind. Sora jumped and threw his arms around me, causing us both to fall over in a mess of limbs and surprised shouts.

"I'd help, but this seems like some sort of wonderful brotherly bonding thing." I stared up at Riku, who was hovering above us and looking incredibly entertained. I reached a hand up hopefully, having successfully pulled my arm out of the tangled mess, but Riku just shook his head with that irritating smirk of his.

It was at this time that I decided I would not only beat Riku in Tag, but I would utterly demolish him. It was also at this time that I decided this would be accomplished with tape and spiders. Many spiders.

"Sorry, Rox!" I felt the weight on my body suddenly relieved as Sora jumped up, looking considerably more excited than usual when he grabbed my wrist and started dragging us towards our lockers. I twisted my neck around to look back at Riku, who simply held up a roll of silver duct tape in response and it all rushed back to me and I could feel the excitement building up between Sora and I as we neared our lockers.

-:-:-:-

"Are you guys playing Monopoly?" I stood in the doorway of my usually chaotic English class, my brand new roll of checkered duct tape tucked safely away in my messenger bag after a perfectly executed attack on Riku-with help from Sora. Originally I had planned to ask Axel where he got a pattern like that, but at that moment I was more concerned with the location of our teacher.

Demyx nodded, looking crestfallen as he passed a good sized wad of the flimsy paper money to Xigbar, who took it happily and looked up to greet me with a short wave. I waved back, laughing nervously and looked around the room for Axel, when Larxene interrupted my search, pointing to the teacher's desk.

"He's asleep back there. We made a deal, so he gets to sleep." She waved a hand dismissively, "Wake him up if you want, but he'll be bitchy." Her electric blue eyes returned to the game, I could hear her mutter a long string of obscenities directed at Xigbar, which he must have heard too, because he just laughed and held out a hand to collect his 'rent.' I felt myself smiling at their antics, but I couldn't help but wonder why Axel didn't want to be in on it, this seemed like the kind of strange thing he'd get excited about.

"What was the deal anyway?" I looked back at the desk at the front of the room, "It wasn't anything bad was it?"

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Xigbar barked out a loud laugh, Larxene following after him with a peal of high pitched giggles, Demyx simply smiled crookedly at me and batted his eyelashes innocently. Suddenly I felt as though I was being kept out of a very important loop. You know, like when your family is planning a surprise birthday party for you, and you kind of expect it, but it still drives you nuts not knowing for sure? It was that kind of feeling, and I didn't like it, in fact I could already feel a childish pouting forming on my face-which, to be honest I wasn't too fond of either, Sora pulled it off much better somehow.

"Okay, if that's how this is gonna go, I'll just hang out with Axel..." I rolled my eyes and spun around on my heel to start walking towards the redhead's hiding spot, I knew it was immature to go running off to Axel every time I didn't like the way something was going on, but I also knew that he'd likely answer my question. So in my head it made more sense to wake up and listen to his whine-fest in exchange for some answers.

I frowned when I saw him, even while he was asleep he didn't look like he was getting any rest, and it looked like a common occurrence if the dark rings under his eyes were anything to go by. Sitting down on the cold tile floor and crossing my legs, I examined him closely for the first time. And I realized that at first glance, I liked what I saw. But underneath that, something was off. Little things, I don't think anybody really paid enough attention to see them, after all, once something becomes common you just stop noticing.

But Axel was totally new to me, so the little things that everybody else was accustomed to, I wasn't. I saw them immediately. He probably barely even weighed as much as I did, and he was a good foot and a half taller than me, after a short mental debate, I decided that he couldn't be healthy like that. Anorexia was out of the question, since every chance he got he was swiping food from someone or other. In the end I figured maybe he had some sort of disorder of some sort. At least I'd have something to research later.

Then there were the rings under his eyes, missing a night or two of sleep wouldn't make them so prominent. I knew from experience, actually, but that's a story for another time. As far as I could tell, Axel usually slept through as much of this class as possible, which meant he probably did the same in his other classes. Did he ever sleep at home? I mean, cold linoleum floors weren't exactly comfortable, so you'd have to be bone tired to actually fall asleep on them, in my opinion.

I heaved a sigh and scooted closer to the sleeping teen, and without thinking, ran a hand through the soft red locks. I have to say, it was pretty shocking when he whined and rubbed at his eyes, I'd never met such a light sleeper, but even more shocking were the words that came out of his mouth.

"Mom? S'that you?" He blinked open those brilliant green orbs and I froze, feeling my heart squeeze a little at the pained look on his face when he realized that I wasn't his mother. Before I could do anything he cracked a smile and sat up, acting as though nothing had happened, and before I could even say anything he was on his feet, pulling me up after him.

"C'mon, Roxy, we're going outside." He had a tight hold on my wrist, making me wonder if I'd made him angry, but the look in his eyes told me he just wanted to get out of the school, even for just a moment, and I forced myself to smile and nod.

"Alright, whatever you say."

-:-:-:-

I watched Axel as he lit the cigarette in his mouth and felt myself frowning, about to go into a long speech about cancer and all that, but he seemed to have expected this, because he waved a hand and grinned, puffing smoke up into the warm air.

"Don't bother, I've already been nagged by Demyx, Zexion, Naminé, Kairi, pretty much everybody. Accept Larxene. She's a bitch." At first I was shocked to hear him say that about somebody who appeared to be a close friend of his, it took me a while to realize that he was joking, and i assumed his friendship with Larxene was strange to say the least.

"Right, then I won't say anything. I'll just say one thing." This seemed to catch his attention, quirking a short red eyebrow in interest, nodding for me to continue.

"Oh yeah? What is it then?" Axel crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the grey brick wall of the school. I mimicked him, without leaning back, seeing as there was only a rickety chain-link fence behind me, and stared him straight in the eye.

"I'm disappointed in you." I knew I had one before the words even came out of my mouth, and I think Axel knew it too, because that rebellious spark had left his eyes the second I sucked in a breath. But after I said it, that's when I was absolutely sure. The redhead's face drooped and he let the cigarette hit the ground, putting it out with the heel of his boot and looking completely displeased with all of it.

"There. Happy?" I rolled my eyes at the irritated grumble in his voice, but nodded anyway. Silence fell between us, Axel staring off into the empty street nearby and I could tell that what had happened earlier was still bothering him. I just wasn't sure how to approach the subject, fortunately I didn't have to.

"What happened in class...My mom used to do that. It'd put me to sleep, I guess...Sorry..." His voice was thick and he had his hands deep in his pockets, his eyes glued to the ground as though it had something important written on it. And that was when I decided that I should hire somebody to follow me around and slap me every time I was about to open my mouth, to make me think about what I was going to say before I could blurt it out.

"Used to? So did you grow out of it or something?" Axel's shoulders shook in a mirthless laugh as he looked back up at me, the dark rings under his eyes more apparent than previously and I instantly wanted to turn time back and shove the words back down my throat. I felt a little bit relieved when he answered, but that didn't necessarily mean I liked the answer I got.

"I wish. She died, when I was eight. She got really sick or somethin'. I don't really know, nobody told me nothin' at the time and we don't talk about her now." Somewhere in the back of my mind I noticed that whenever Axel got excited or upset, his speaking became a lot lazier. Pushing the thought away, I tried to think of something to say, but was once again stopped by Axel, who seemed desperate to change the topic.

"So, Roxy. Now you know a secret of mine, what about you?" He smiled hopefully and removed his hands from his pockets, looking somewhat more relaxed.

"What?" I'm not sure what the question was really directed towards, I mean, how do you keep your dead mother a secret? It had to come up somehow in a conversation. But then there was the question he had asked. He wanted to know a secret of mine? I couldn't really think of anything interesting, but everybody has secrets, right? Maybe I just couldn't think of any because they just seemed so much simpler in comparison to Axel's.

"Why don't you tell me a secret about yourself?" Axel asked, rephrasing the question carefully. And then, suddenly, I thought of something that made me laugh for a good minute or two. Mostly because, once I started, the startled look on Axel's face had me in a small fit of hysterical laughter that I just couldn't fight off.

Once I got myself all straightened out, I lifted my chin, and with a deep breath and a wide smile I said, "I still sleep with a teddy bear."

-:-:-:-

A/N: D: Oh God this is so late oh God please don't hate me I'm sorry oh God. So...Halfway through writing this chapter, my dad's cat chewed up my laptop charger, and I didn't get a replacement until...I think either Wednesday or Thursday. Then I got it, and I sat down to write, and Writer's Block came to pay me a visit. Then I realized "OH MAN I HAVE SO MANY OTHER DEADLINES TO MEET FOR OTHER STUFF CRAAAP." Then yesterday (Yesterday being four hours ago) I got tied up with horses, and hair dye, and blahblahblah I'm making excuses now. Sorrysorrysorrysorry. D: Please forgive meeeee.


	4. I'm Sorry Could You Repeat That?

A/N: Soooooo. It's not Tuesday...I: Yeah. So, school started...And I suck at trying to find time to just work on this (Also there's Solitaire. A ridiculous amount of Solitaire.) ._. Updates are gonna be a bit...Off...For a while. Cus there's a lot going on at the moment and I just need to rework my schedule. Please don't kill me and eat my flesh D:

-:-:-:-

I remember what I had for breakfast that morning, I remember my mom sitting on me to wake me up early so I could help clean the house, I remember Axel coming to pick me and Sora up, I even remember the short walk to Riku's house. You know what I _don't _remember?

I _don't_ remember anybody saying Riku had dogs, I _don't _remember anybody mentioning that they were huge dogs, and I certainly _do not_ remember the exact moment in time that they came barreling towards me and knocking me flat on my back in Riku's yard. Unfortunately, I do-and forever will-remember screaming, "Oh God, somebody help me, they're gonna eat my face! I want my mommy!"

Yeah. Way to go, Past Roxas. That was just the manliest, most sexy thing you could possibly do. Ever. Now everybody is aware of just how gay you really are, and none of them will date you, because you're pathetic. And nobody wants to put up with that. Now, Past Roxas, you may be wondering if Axel was paying attention.

You hear that, Past Roxas? That's Axel. Laughing at you. He was paying attention. Congratulations.

Moving on to my mortification.

I felt my cheeks burning scarlet as Axel and Riku pulled the massive dogs off me by their collars, and I realized, as I sat up, that there was still one standing right behind me, its big floppy tongue right next to my ear. You can guess what happened next right? Go on, I promise, you're gonna laugh.

That's right. I screamed and ran away.

Pop Quiz. What do dogs do when somebody runs?

Those of you who said: "They chase after them, you douche, how old are you, five?" You are all correct. A+, aren't you all proud of yourselves?

But of course, in my blind panic, I did not remember this crucial fact. So I ran. Unfortunately, the huge brute of a dog behind me was just a little bit faster. Also, for those of you who were wondering, the dirt in Hollow Bastion is nowhere near as delicious as it might be in other parts of the world.

For what I think was the first time in my life, I was grateful to hear Sora's voice, even though I couldn't hear exactly what he said, I did know that whatever it was got the hundred-fifty pound mutt off of me. I felt a somebody grab my arm and pull me back to my feet and hold me steady until I regained my footing. Somewhere behind me I could hear Riku laughing his stupid ass off and I wished I had my precious roll of duct tape. I'd tape him up so bad he'd have to have reconstructive surgery just to have skin.

"Roxy, are you afraid of dogs or something?" I jumped a little when I heard Axel's voice right behind me. I found myself twisting around to make sure it was really him and not some adrenaline-induced vision my brain had made up to screw with me. Hold on, does adrenaline even work that way? Like...Some sort of hallucinogen that you stow away in your body, or something like that?

"-oxy? Are you okay?" I looked up at Axel, realizing I hadn't been paying attention to him at all, and that I probably looked like a retard. Somehow after my horrifying endeavor, I managed to smile and nod.

"Yeah sorry, I've just never been much of a dog person, and, well nobody said anything...That...sounds really dumb..." Axel shook his head and laughed, this time hopefully not at me. He leaned down towards me a little and reached out to ruffle my hair with a leather clad hand, and all over I felt my cheeks get hot. I wrinkled up my nose and slapped his hand away, secretly taking the opportunity to enjoy the sound of his laughter. It was just as careless as he was, with a rough edge that was barely even there.

Now, with us being in our own little world, we weren't paying as much attention as we probably should have to Riku and the others. So I think it's safe to say we were both mildly surprised when a water balloon the size of my head hit Axel right between the shoulders, thoroughly drenching him.

The silence that followed was quite terrifying. And then there was laughter again, just not mine or Axel's.

Have you ever seen a cat after a bath? Not just a cat-bath, but an honest to God bath? With water and all?

If not, let me try to describe it for you. Once its fur is all wet, you can see just how scrawny a cat actually is. The same thing tends to happen when clothing gets wet and starts clinging to a person's body. Cats also tend to get really angry when forced into water. Apparently, so did Axel. As a side note, I've never seen anybody that skinny run that fast.

And just like that, we made an end to the warmth of summer with the biggest water balloon fight I've ever been a part of. By the time the sun went down and it started getting cooler outside, everybody was completely drenched. Including the dogs-who I later learned were Goofy, Pluto, and Tramp.

It was almost sad when we left Riku's place, our teeth chattering and our clothes clinging uncomfortably. It felt like we were saying goodbye to the cheerful happiness that we'd taken advantage of for the past three months, and in its place, welcoming the cold, grey days of winter that would drag on, seemingly forever. I felt my heart squeeze tightly at the thought, but even through all that melancholy, I still felt happy. Happy because I felt like I finally had friends of my own, happy because I just had a massive water balloon fight to say goodbye to summer.

I looked down at my tape covered bracelet and smiled. I was happy because I finally found my place.

-:-:-:-

I've never been an optimistic person. I believe that if you have a really great day, at the end of it there's somebody just waiting to ruin it. Granted, that person isn't usually your older brother and his boyfriend, but I tend to be a special case with these kinds of things.

Now, when your family knows that you're gay, bringing home any guy, even if he's just a friend, is like a girl bringing home her new boyfriend. If you have an older brother like Cloud or even Squall you might know how well this turned out for me.

The entire walk back to the house, even as short as it was, I felt like I was going to snap and tell Axel to just go home and pretend we'd never met. Unfortunately I knew that would just hurt more than help me, especially since we were only a few steps away from home.

You see, I expected Cloud and Squall to be outside the second I opened the door. What I didn't expect, was to see them actually _waiting _for us outside, looking more than a little bit pissed. Next to me, I felt Axel tense up and freeze and fall behind slightly, and even Sora seemed a little subdued. I took in a deep breath of the now, seemingly stagnant air and tried to force a smile, which probably looked more like a grimace. Cloud stared straight past Sora and I and locked on to the redhead behind us.

"Axel."

...

What?

-:-:-:-

A/N: Please don't hurt me. D: I started this chapter like...right after I posted the last one and for some reason school decided to jump in and say "HAHA I WILL NOW PREVENT YOU FROM DOING WORK YOU ACTUALLY LIKE AND YOU'RE GONNA SHUT UP AND ACCEPT IT." Then I got Birth By Sleep, so no work got done. Because it's awesome. And then I got sick. *Excusesexcusesexcuses* So now I bet you're like "DUDE WE WAITED FOREVER FOR THIS? A CLIFF HANGER? *unalert*" But I promise, things really take off from here. :D Please don't unalert me because of my slight retardation.


	5. It Isn't Polite To Invite Yourself Over

A/N: Oh God. D: I'm so sorry this has been on temporary, unannounced hiatus. I didn't mean for that to happen, but I like...Exploded or something and had writer's block for a month. Blame my teachers, it's all their fault :D

-:-:-:-

Okay, I definitely wasn't expecting that, I'm totally willing to admit that Cloud had managed to completely and utterly dumbfound me. It was unsettling, to say the least, to be stuck in what felt like suffocating silence. I kept waiting, even as small droplets of rain made their way down to earth and slid down the bridge of my nose.

Next to me, Sora laughed nervously in a poor attempt to lighten the mood. In the back of my mind I wondered when exactly the sky had changed from orange to grey, probably my brain's way of trying to escape the situation. Unfortunately though, the my mouth decided it wanted to ask stupid questions without permission from the rest of my body.

"So...uh, do you guys know each other...or something?"

"You could say that." Oh Cloud, my dearest brother. Where would I be without you? Everybody is standing in the cold rain, but alas, you just have to make some dumb-ass mysterious comment. I hate you.

I nearly jumped out of my skin when Axel finally decided to remind me of his presence, which I probably should have never forgotten considering he was the reason for the strange atmosphere. Once again, the tall redhead reminded me of a cat, especially in the way he kept a cautious eye on my brother, as though if he wasn't careful Cloud would jump out and rip him to shreds. Then again, since I had no idea what was going on, that was very possible. I wasn't entirely sure what my brother was capable of.

"I'll see you later, Roxas. Sorry about this." For a second I had forgotten how to speak, just staring blankly at Axel's back as he walked away. But I got lucky, because my traitorous mouth decided to apologize for its earlier mistake and apparently it got my hands to help it. So, without even think I grabbed one of Axel's thin wrists and held him in place.

"No, wait. Look, it's raining so...Why don't you just hang out here or something? My mom wouldn't mind and Cloud is a dick, so nobody cares what he thinks." Stupid move, I know, I could practically feel Cloud's eyes burning holes into my back. It felt like hours passed before Axel moved again, this time to look back at me, and then apprehensively at Cloud and Leon.

"Thanks Roxas, but I should really get going. I'll uh...Call you or something." I felt my stomach sink into my toes and the corners of my mouth turn downward into a frown, but nonetheless I nodded and let him go. I watched his retreating form for a few moments before turning my attention to my brother and his boyfriend.

"Care to explain?" I swept my sopping wet hair out of my eyes and tried my very hardest to look mean. Do you have any idea how hard that is when you look like a drowned rat? Apparently my attempt was in vain, seeing as Cloud merely turned around and walked inside, Leon trailing quickly after him. I scowled and shoved Sora ahead into the house. We stopped just inside the doorway, simultaneously relishing in the warmth the house provided. I could hear my mom in the kitchen and suddenly remembered that Sora and I were both dripping water everywhere, and upon further inspection, I discovered that our shoes were caked with mud.

Let me tell you something about my mom. As great as she is most of the time, she's a bit of a clean freak, and she was not one to just sit quietly while we tracked mud through her house. The silence dragged on for a couple more moments, broken only every now and again by my mom in the kitchen or Cloud and Leon walking around upstairs. I didn't even bother busting my brain to figure out how they managed to get through without mucking up everything.

Next to me, in a moment of confusing brilliance that I didn't know existed, Sora started stripping down to his boxers, humming some irritating showtune as he did. He didn't even notice me staring for several moments, by which point he was standing in a pile of his clothes and looking quite proud of himself, and a little disappointed that I hadn't already mimicked his genius idea.

"You see, Rox, our clothes are the big problem here, they're what's soaked and muddy. So if we take them off, we aren't all drippy and covered in mud. So we can get through the house without mom eating our faces or something equally painful."

And so, as easy as that, I ended up sneaking through my house, almost completely naked, save for my boxers and socks. It was all going pretty well too, until we walked past Cloud and Leon's room at least. Cloud must have had a really great day or something along those lines, because he was really on a roll with his whole tough love regime.

"What the Hell are you two doing?" I think I remember running for my life at the point, but the time it took to get down the hallway to my room is all kind of a blur, so I'm not entirely sure. Besides that though, I did hear the roaring laughter that followed my little adventure through the door. I wanted to yell and inform everybody that the whole thing was Sora's idea, but I knew it would be useless, and what was the point in ruining their fun? Yeah, sure. What was the point?

-:-:-:-

It was around two in the morning when it happened, the kittens and Duchess were sleeping on my pillow and the storm outside was getting worse as the night went on. I hadn't really gotten much sleep that night, still upset about what had happened earlier with Axel and whether or not he'd ever even bother talking to me again. I was curled on my side, away from the window and staring holes into my wall, when I heard the ridiculously loud vibration of my cell phone on the desk next to my bed. Squinting against the bright light of the screen, I tired my best to sound like a functioning human being.

"Hello?"

_"Roxy? I'm um...I kinda need your help with something."_

The line was silent and I couldn't think of anything to say, not having slept and too busy cursing myself for not checking the caller ID.

_"Roxy, you there?" _

I could hear the wind and thunder in the back ground, and it led me to say the first thing that came to my mind.

"Are you outside? Axel, it's pouring out there, you're gonna die or something!" It came out as a shout at first, until I remembered that it was two in the morning and everybody in my house was sleeping, and Cloud would tear me to shreds if I woke him or Leon. There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then slow, quiet laughter.

_"Yeah, yeah. I know, I've heard it before...Hey, uh...this is gonna sound stupid but could I crash at your place? I'll be gone before anybody notices, but uh...I...Missed curfew and can't sneak in just yet." _

Looking back at it, I probably would have said no if I had been more awake, but as it was, I really wasn't in the right mind to be making any sorts of decisions. And really, if he promised to be out of the house before anybody woke up, what could it hurt?

Well, besides everything, I mean.

-:-:-:-

It was another twenty minutes before Axel actually got to my house, somehow managing to scale the side of my house and crawl through the window, landing softly on my floor, soaked to the bone and holding out a fuzzy orange kitten in my direction. Again, being brain-dead from lack of sleep, and forgetting about the repercussions of my actions, I told him he could leave the kitten with Duchess, and discovered that he found the kitten in a box and decided to name him Oliver.

"I could think of anythin' else, and I remembered you mentioning some cats and all, and-" I held up a hand to cut him off, taking the kitten with my free hand and setting it delicately on the bed with Duchess and the kittens. I was glad to see that the fluffy white cat took the kitten without hesitation, but I remembered that there was still Axel to deal with. I turned back to look at him, wet and tired-looking, and looking sort of like he was afraid I'd kick him out.

Rubbing my tired eyes, I trudged quietly to my closet, knowing that somewhere in the dark depths was still a box with a ton of Cloud and Leon's junk in it, and after some rummaging, I returned from the closet victoriously, throwing a pair of sweatpants at Axel and returning to my bed. After I was settled and comfortable, I yawned and gestured vaguely to the bed.

"Once you're kinda, semi dry you can come sleep with me."

It would be another seven hours before I would find out exactly how much trouble I'd gotten myself into, and another ten before I would dig myself out of it.

-:-:-:-

A/N: OKAY DEAR GOD PLEASE DON'T EAT MY SOUL. D: I promise, promise, PROMISE to update more frequently. But I can't guarantee that it'll be weekly like it was, just that it won't be another two months before I update again. (Maybe just until Thanksgiving. :D)


	6. I Actually Prefer Waffles

A/N: .... D: It's been forever since I updated, I know. But look, look how shiny and beautiful and plot-filled this chapter is :D Forgive me? (If there are any spelling/grammar issues, it's because I don't have a Beta. That's right everybody, the position is open if you're willing to explain to me how that stuff works, cus I'm a tard sometimes.)

-:-:-:-

I'm not entirely sure what woke me up first, Sora jumping on my bed, or the screaming that followed when he landed on Axel and the two of them went tumbling to the floor below. It could have been a combination of both, but I think what really did it was Cloud bursting in, looking more than a little frazzled by the early morning activities.

Now, here's the thing. I shouldn't be held accountable for anything I say or do before 10 am, and after 11 pm, because somewhere in there it starts to get pretty hazy, and I just start going with whatever is easiest at that exact moment in time. So when somebody calls me at two o' clock in the morning, asking to stay over at my house for the night and promising to be gone before anybody could find them, I just say yes. Why? Because at that _exact moment in time, _my brain seems to think that the easiest solution is to just go with it, rather than have to explain why letting random teenagers crash in your room without your mother knowing is a terrible, terrible idea.

I rub my eyes and decide that I should probably diffuse the situation between Sora and Axel before I move on to anything else, like trying to remember when and how Axel got to my house in the first place. I crawled over to the side of the bed they'd fallen off of, peering over the edge at the tangled mess of limbs and hair. Axel stared up at me, looking as confused and bewildered as I probably did. He smiled apologetically, which was enough to let me know that he remembered something from last night. Probably some kind of 'I promise to be out of the house before anybody wakes up,' portion of the night that apparently he didn't live up to.

Behind me, Cloud cleared his throat, as though I'd piss myself and blurt out a million apologies at the mere sound of it. I rolled my eyes and twisted my neck around to look back at him, not surprised at all by his 'interrogation stance.' I always wondered when he became such a hard-ass. Sometimes I thought that maybe when he was a kid he fell on a stick and it got jammed so far up his ass that maybe it was poking a vital organ or something, and he was doomed to spend the rest of his life as a crabby old man.

Cloud just stared back at me, not even the slightest hint of confusion on his face, and I suddenly realized that Axel and I were in some deep trouble. I frowned and blinked my eyes pleadingly, hoping maybe if I looked pathetic enough, my brother would take pity on me and just let Axel leave under the conditions that he doesn't sneak in through my window at two o'clock in the morning.

"Downstairs, both of you, now."

Of course, I've never been that lucky in my life. I nodded, and Axel poked his head over the edge of the bed, peering carefully at Cloud.

"You go first." He mumbled, his short red eyebrows coming together, and I could tell he was nervous. Cloud stared at the redhead, as though he were some kid asking him to participate in a pointless activity. Neither of them looked like they were going to give up their stance, and even Sora looked uncomfortable in the room with all the tension that was building.

Cloud let out a stream of frustrated curses and left the room, the sound of his bare feet on the stairs making quiet thumps. When he reached the kitchen, I could hear the voices of my mom and Leon, followed closely by an indistinct mumble from Cloud. I flopped on to my back and stared at Axel, defeated.

"We'd better get down there." I sighed, rubbing my forehead, "Or he'll come back up and push us down the stairs." Axel opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, and, lacking anything to say, made a small sound of protest. I rolled my eyes, I really didn't feel like screwing around this early in the morning. The redhead seemed to understand after a few seconds, and he stood up, his shoulders slumped forward a little, and I almost felt bad for him, for whatever it was that my brother had done to him at least.

We could already hear my brother and Leon downstairs as we slowly made our way to the kitchen, but I couldn't make out what they were saying, just Cloud's grumbling and Leon's little "Mhms," and, "Rights." My brother's boyfriend was a lot of things, but talkative wasn't one of them. I felt my cheeks getting hot with shame. I had no idea how my mom would react to me letting boys into my room in the middle of the night.

Something told me I didn't have anything to worry about. Maybe it was because I knew my brother wouldn't murder me with a witness in the house. Of course, he could always just kill Axel too. How many people did he have to kill before it turned into a spree? I think it had to be more than five. I shook myself from my thoughts and made my way into the kitchen, with Axel trailing behind me like a sad puppy. Cloud was tapping his fingers on the table, looking grumpier than usual, if that was possible. Axel tugged on his ear and looked around the room, his eyes sticking firmly to a photograph of Sora and I when we were really little.

"You two are in big trouble." Cloud frowned at me specifically, "Roxas you know better than to sneak people into the house in the middle of the night." He looked hard at Axel, "And why did you need to sneak in at the middle of the night?"

Axel stared at my brother blankly, like the answer was obvious, "It was raining." He said, deadpan. He and my brother never broke eye contact, the kitchen was silent aside from the monotonous ticking of the clock. Even my mom didn't try to get in between the two. I had a feeling this all went deeper than anything either of us knew about. Leon brushed his hair out of his face and cleared his throat.

"And why, Axel, couldn't you stay at your own house?" It didn't sound like the social worker even wanted an answer. Like he'd already heard all the excuses in the world. I was curious though, as to how my brother and Leon knew Axel, and why they seemed so irritated by his presence. I wouldn't have been surprised if they had just said that he'd gotten into trouble with the law once or twice, but nobody was saying anything.

That was definitely suspicious. Axel, so far, was the type to pour out his soul to whoever seemed willing to listen, but ever since he'd seen my brother, he'd just clammed shut. I hated the thought that Axel felt he couldn't trust me with whatever it was he was hiding. We'd only known each other for a short time, but it was still frustrating.

The silence in the room ticked by once again, Axel digging through his mind for something to say, Leon and Cloud staring at him like they just wanted to slap him, and my mom tapping her foot impatiently. She of course, being the saint she was, was the one to break the heavy silence, clapping her hands together with a smile.

"None of that matters right now. Axel, honey, are you hungry? I was just about to make pancakes." Cloud twisted around to argue with her, but she wasn't going to have any of it. "I don't care how he got here, but he's here, and if Roxas is friends with him, that's enough for me. Roxas, could you go get Sora? It's his turn to help make breakfast." I wanted to laugh. I almost did, but Cloud was still glowering in front of me. Instead I just nodded and grabbed Axel's wrist, dragging him upstairs with me.

"Oh hey, you're alive. Mom saved you?" Sora looked up from from his spot on my bed, bobbing his head to the music in his head. He had a huge grin plastered on his face and his hair was a spiky mess, worse than usual. I waved my hands in a shooing motion, trying to look angry, but I couldn't get the relieved smile off my face.

"Yeah, and she says to get your ass downstairs and help with breakfast." Sora gasped, as though he were horrified at my language, throwing a hand over his heart.

"Mom did not say ass, you ass." Behind me, Axel snorted, a hand over his face to hide his laughter. I wondered for a second if he had any siblings, or if he was totally new to this kind of banter. He'd never mentioned having any brothers or sisters before, and I didn't recall anybody else saying anything. I'd have to remember to ask him later. _After _I chewed him out about whatever was going on with Cloud and Leon. Sora hopped off of my bed and shimmied past Axel and I, running down the stairs shouting something about rescuing mom from the laborious work of mixing pancake batter all by herself.

My redheaded friend walked over to the corner of my room where Duchess and the kittens were, crouching down and picking up the newest addition, whose name I couldn't remember just then. I flopped on to my bed and pointed at Axel and the kitten.

"You," I began, "Have a lot of explaining to do." I could practically feel the guilt Axel was sending me, his eyes getting big and his mouth forming a pout. The kitten mewled and I sighed, rubbing my face. First, he woke me up in the middle of the night, then he came over dripping wet with a kitten he found on the street. And now he was trying to weasel his way out of explaining himself. I just shook my head and held my ground. If I was going to have to deal with Cloud's constant glares across the table for the next week, I was going to at least know what the deal was between him and Axel, and apparently, in some small contribution, Leon.

"It's nothing important really. I've just gotten into trouble a couple of times." Axel mumbled, burying his face in the little orange scrap of fur, "And your brother apparently hangs out in my neighborhood a ton." I frowned, I knew that wasn't everything, and Axel knew that I knew, but he wasn't going to say anything more. I was willing to take it though, maybe if I just waited I'd learn more. For now, I just had to keep the peace.

...With mom's help of course.

-:-:-:-:-

A/N: So I know I promised to update more, but I'm not really good at balancing school and...Everything else. Like eating and sleeping. BUT ALAS, IT IS SUMMER NOW, AND I HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING ELSE TO DO. Except maybe, breathe, but that's optional I think. Also, there is a poll up on my profile about what people want to see more of in Secrets! If there's anything you want to see that isn't listed or if you just wanna talk, PM me, I'm likely to reply pretty quick. (PS. Reviews tend to make me update faster :D)


	7. Oh Yeah, My Mom Is A Florist

A/N: Hm. I actually had this mostly finished like months ago, and then I accidently killed my laptop. So here it is rewritten. And completely different from what it was when I started. :)

-:-:-:-

"You've never made chocolate chip cookies before?"

My redheaded friend shrugged, looking a little ashamed, trying to distract himself with the kitten in his hands. For a minute I wondered just how strange it must have been to grow up without a mom; to never bake chocolate chip cookies when it was too rainy to go outside.

"Well then that settles it. You're coming downstairs with me, and we're baking some frigging delicious cookies, and you're going to enjoy it." I took Oliver from Axel and put him back down with Duchess and the other kittens. The redhead stared up at me, grinning like he was just barely holding back his laughter.

"And if I don't?" I returned his grin and rolled my eyes, excited to just get downstairs and bake some oversized cookies that would undoubtedly get completely demolished before they were even halfway out of the oven.

"Then you don't get to eat any." Axel gasped in horror, throwing a hand over his heart and throwing himself to the ground.

"You villain!" He accused, pointing his other hand at me. By that point I was barely paying attention, too busy trying to stop laughing and catch my breath. We'd been like this all day, since the moment my mom got us off the hook with Cloud. Despite the gloomy weather outside, we just couldn't seem to stop laughing.

Sora had gone off somewhere with Riku earlier in the day, and Cloud and Leon left before breakfast in a pissy little huff. Well, Cloud was pissy, Leon was pretty much apathetic about the whole thing.

-:-:-:-

"Axel, can you do something useful for just a little while, instead of standing around eating my cookie dough?" Behind me, I heard the bowl return to its rightful place on the counter, and felt the guilty eyes of Axel on my back. He let out a sigh of frustration and tapped his fingers on the counter. I knew without looking that he was pouting.

"But the cookies are taking so _long, _Roxy!" Finally I gave in and turned around, just in time for him to throw his arms around his midsection dramatically, "And I'm hungry _now!"_ When that didn't phase me, the redhead dropped to his knees and crawled towards me, grabbing the hem of my shirt like a beggar.

"You're _killing me."_ He gasped out, "I need chocolate chip-y deliciousness, Roxy. I have low blood sugar! I could pass out!" He narrowed his kohl-lined eyes, "Then you'd feel guilty." I laughed and crossed my arms over my chest, shaking my head.

"Mmm, no, actually, I'd use the time to do something productive." The look on Axel's face following my claim made me remember to carry around a camera from that point on. He got up off the floor and clutched at his heart, looking breathless.

"Are…Are you calling me a…A distraction? Roxas, how…How _could _you!" He turned away from me, "¡No puedo creer, yo debería haber escuchado a mi madre!"

The kitchen fell silent as soon as Axel finished his sentence. It wasn't until the timer went off for the cookies that the laughing started. I barely had time to pull the cookies out of the oven before I was doubled over, with tears in my eyes, my sides aching from the force of my laughter.

"Since when do you speak Spanish?" I asked as soon as I managed to calm myself down, taking a deep breath. Axel tapped his chin in thought, his eyes traveling up to stare at the ceiling.

"Since, like…I don't even remember." He finally said, looking surprised himself. He hoisted himself on to the counter next to where I was transferring the cookies from the pan to a plate.

"It's kinda just something I've always known, I guess. Or somethin' like that." The redhead ran a hand through his long spiky locks, his vivid green eyes traveled down to the plate of still-warm cookies. I quirked an eyebrow, holding up the baked treats.

"I'd wait if I were you, they're still pretty hot." Almost as soon as the words were out of my mouth, Axel had a mouthful of scorching hot cookie. I set down the plate and decided to watch and wait to see what would happen, placing my hands firmly on my hips. Axel made a face at me, his eyes watering a little, but he refused to give in, crossing his arms over his chest in defiance.

Eventually, he managed to swallow, blinking hard and coughing a little. He sniffed and looked around the kitchen innocently.

"Delicious." He said, sliding off the counter and walking over to the sink, where he promptly turned on the faucet and held his tongue under the cold water.

-:-:-:-

"Ah, Roxas, did Axel go home?" My mom greeted me around a huge bunch of flowers in her arms. I laughed at the display and took a bundle of some sickeningly sweet blue flowers and other mixes of foliage from her, setting them on the table behind me.

"Nope, he's still here. He went to go play with the kittens while the rest of the cookies finish baking." I gestured to the oven, where the aforementioned cookies were just beginning to rise. My mom smiled and began arranging some of the flowers on the table, looking around for a vase, humming a little tune to herself.

"It's been strange living in a house without flowers, hasn't it?" She finally said after a couple minutes of silence. She dropped her handiwork into a translucent blue vase and took a step back to analyze every little bit, her hands on her hips.

"There. Now we're finally getting somewhere, right Roxas?" I followed her gaze to the bouquet and felt a twinge of familiarity. She was right; it was strange living in a house without flowers.

-:-:-:-

By the time Axel came back downstairs, the cookies were ready, and my mom had managed to fill the house with flowers. Every little bare corner, every available surface, anywhere she could possible think to put a vase, was now overflowing with foliage. The redhead looked around, mildly confused.

"Am I in the right house…?" Axel quickly made his way to the kitchen, poking his head in through the archway, looking relieved that I was still there. He rushed in and threw his arms around me in a bear-hug, refusing to let go.

"Do you always do this when somebody bakes cookies for you?" I tried vainly to wiggle away, but Axel was stronger than he looked.

"What happened to your house?" It dawned on me that Axel knew nothing about my mother's little flower obsession. Before I could open my mouth to answer, the florist was already prancing back into the kitchen, a couple of flowers still in her hands.

"Oh, Axel, hello. Do you like the flowers?" She smiled, handing one to my confused friend, "I brought them home from work…Roxas did you know I get an employee discount?"

"And how much of your paycheck went into the flowers?" I did my best to sound serious, but I wasn't too concerned. My mom only _seemed _to be irresponsible, in reality, she was on top of everything that went on in our household. Even if nobody else did.

"Oh, not much actually." My mother waved me off in her bubbly way, "Axel honey, would you like to stay for dinner? Your parents won't worry will they?"

Axel had finally released me and was rolling the flower around in his hands, not looking up from it. It took him so long to answer, I thought that maybe he hadn't heard the question. Just before my mom opened her mouth again, he replied.

"I…I actually think I need to be getting home now. Sorry if I caused you any trouble." He wound his way around her and towards the door, walking as quickly as he could. It wasn't until I heard the door open and close that I snapped back to reality.

"Axel?" Now it was my turn to be confused, following after the redhead into the cool afternoon air, "Axel, will you wait?" The redhead was almost at the end of the driveway, and he seemed deaf to my shouts. "Axel, stop!" That final demand caught him, and he stopped walking, but he didn't turn to face me.

Before I knew what I was doing, I was standing in front of my friend, arms locked around him. I could feel his surprise, and somehow, that he needed this. And I knew that he'd never admit to crying on my shoulder. And I knew that he might never tell me why.

And somehow, none of that mattered just then.

-:-:-:-

A/N: AAAAAAAAAAAAAH. I am the worst. It takes me FOREVER to upload a chapter, then when I DO upload it, I don't get it beta'd because I'm afraid to miss Akuroku day. I was actually really confused about what to do with this chapter, and I feel like I cut it too short, but I just can't focus on this one chapter anymore. I promise they'll start getting longer though, and hopefully more closely updated.


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